"originally part of Virginia. The Parliament of Bermuda, which now also includes a Senate, is the third-oldest in the Commonwealth of Nations, after the Tynwald and Westminster (currently the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Of the three, only Bermuda's has legislated continuously, with the Royalist camp maintaining control of the archipelago during the Commonwealth of England and the Protectorate. However, in the modern sense of the term, the first self-governing colony is generally considered to have been the Province of Canada, in 1841; the colony gained responsible government in 1849. All the colonies of British North America became self-governing between"
"Oldest town in Britain The title of oldest town in Britain is claimed by a number of settlements in Great Britain. Abingdon in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire) claims to be the oldest town in Britain in ""continuous settlement"". Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age remains have been found in and around the town, and evidence of a late-Iron Age enclosure of 33 hectares known as an 'oppidum' was discovered underneath the town centre in 1991. It continued to be used as a town throughout the Roman occupation of Britain and subsequently became a Saxon settlement, named Sevekesham"
"reach the Spice Islands in the East Indies, that supposedly ended up off what is now Bonavista. The first permanent English settlement was established at Cuper's Cove in 1610. Sir George Calvert was later given a large land holding on the peninsula. The initial colony of Ferryland grew to a population of 100, becoming the first successful permanent settlement on Newfoundland island. In 1623 Calvert was given a Royal Charter extending the Royal lands and granting them the name Province of Avalon ""in imitation of Old Avalon in Somersetshire wherein Glassenbury stands, the first fruits of Christianity in Britain as"
"British Empire. Newfoundland is considered Britain's oldest colony. At the time of English settlement, the Beothuk inhabited the island. L'Anse aux Meadows was a Norse settlement near the northernmost tip of Newfoundland (Cape Norman), which has been dated to be approximately 1,000 years old. The site is considered the only undisputed evidence of Pre-Columbian contact between the Old and New Worlds, if the Norse-Inuit contact on Greenland is not counted. Point Rosee, in southwest Newfoundland, was thought to be a second Norse site until excavations in 2015 and 2016 found no evidence of any Norse presence. The island is a"
"later. When the first intentional settlers arrived from England in 1609, they settled very briefly on St. David's Island, before moving across the Harbour to create St. George's, the oldest continuously-inhabited English settlement in the New World. The harbour was well fortified during this time, as can still be seen in the several period forts located nearby. The 19th Century saw the establishment of a Royal Naval base in Bermuda. Initially this was in St. George's Harbour, with the Royal Navy operating from facilities in Convict Bay (so called due to the prison hulks moored there) and within St. George's"
"settled and claimed by England as a result of the 1609 shipwreck of the Virginia Company's flagship, and in 1615 was turned over to the newly formed Somers Isles Company. The Virginia Company's charter was revoked in 1624 and direct control of Virginia was assumed by the crown, thereby founding the Colony of Virginia. The London and Bristol Company was created in 1610 with the aim of creating a permanent settlement on Newfoundland, but was largely unsuccessful. In 1620, Plymouth was founded as a haven for Puritan religious separatists, later known as the Pilgrims. Fleeing from religious persecution would become"
"King Charles I, Parliament, and King Charles II. The first permanent settlement was founded in 1607 on the James River at Jamestown, Virginia upstream from Chesapeake Bay by the London Company. This was followed in 1620 when the Pilgrims established the Plymouth settlement in New England. English Catholics settled the Province of Maryland in 1634, with Cecilus Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. In London beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department, and a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations. In 1768, a specific state department was"
"govern the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena. English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms Between 1639 and 1651 English overseas possessions were involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars and wars that were fought in and between England, Scotland and in Ireland. At the beginning of the war, fifty thousand Englishmen inhabited some twenty colonies in the Americas. Most of the colonies were founded in the decade prior to the start of the English Civil War (1642–1651) with the oldest existing being the Colony of Virginia (1607). The vast majority"
"English overseas possessions in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms Between 1639 and 1651 English overseas possessions were involved in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars and wars that were fought in and between England, Scotland and in Ireland. At the beginning of the war, fifty thousand Englishmen inhabited some twenty colonies in the Americas. Most of the colonies were founded in the decade prior to the start of the English Civil War (1642–1651) with the oldest existing being the Colony of Virginia (1607). The vast majority of the adult population were first generation settlers"
"Popham Colony The Popham Colony—also known as the Sagadahoc Colony—was a short-lived English colonial settlement in North America that was founded in 1607 and located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Maine, near the mouth of the Kennebec River by the proprietary Virginia Company of Plymouth. It was founded a few months after its more successful rival, the colony at Jamestown, which was established on May 4, 1607, by the Virginia Company of London in present-day James City County, Virginia. The Popham Colony was the first colony in the region that would eventually become known as New England, coming five"
"Colony's boundaries. The London Company was incorporated as a joint stock company by the proprietary Charter of 1606, which granted land rights to this area. The company financed the first permanent English settlement in the ""New World"", Jamestown. Named for King James I, it was founded in May 1607 by Christopher Newport. In 1619, colonists took greater control with an elected legislature called the House of Burgesses. With the bankruptcy of the London Company in 1624, the settlement was taken into royal authority as an English crown colony. Life in the colony was perilous, and many died during the Starving"
"Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colony in North America, following failed proprietary attempts at settlement on Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey Gilbert in 1583, and the subsequent further south Roanoke Island (modern eastern North Carolina) by Sir Walter Raleigh in the late 1580s. The founder of the new colony was the Virginia Company, with the first two settlements in Jamestown on the north bank of the James River and Popham Colony on the Kennebec River in modern-day Maine, both in 1607. The Popham colony quickly failed due"
"familiar with the Avalon Peninsula where many would set up temporary shelters to dry fish. In the early 17th century English merchants began to take an interest in the Newfoundland fishery. The Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers established the London and Bristol Company (the Newfoundland Company) in 1608 and sent John Guy, to locate a favourable location for a colony. The first permanent English settlement was established at Cuper's Cove in 1610. The company was granted a charter by James I on 2 May 1610 giving it a monopoly in agriculture, mining, fishing and hunting on the Avalon Peninsula. They"
"Amesbury Amesbury () is a town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England. It is most famous for the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge which is in its parish, and for the discovery of the Amesbury Archer—dubbed the King of Stonehenge in the press—in 2002. It has been confirmed by archaeologists that it is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in the United Kingdom, having been first settled around 8820 BC. King Alfred the Great left it in his will, a copy of which is in the British Library, to his youngest son Aethelweard (c.880-922). Eleanor of Provence, Queen consort of Henry III"
"gone, before the English took over New Netherland in 1664. The first English colonists came from the Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Original Connecticut Colony settlements were at Windsor in 1633; at Wethersfield in 1634; and in 1636, at Hartford and Springfield, (the latter was administered by Connecticut until defecting in 1640.) The Hartford settlement was led by Reverend Thomas Hooker. In 1631, the Earl of Warwick granted a patent to a company of investors headed by William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, and Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke. They funded the establishment of the Saybrook Colony"
"Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes New Plymouth) was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691 at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Puritan Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims. It was one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the"
"day. Another development of crucial significance was the foundation of the first British colonies on the North American continent, at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, in Newfoundland in 1610, and at Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620, which laid the foundation for future British settlement and the eventual formation of both Canada and the United States of America. In 1609 the Parliament of Scotland began the Plantation of Ulster. A notable event of James' reign occurred on 5 November 1605. On that date, a group of English Catholics (including Guy Fawkes) attempted to assassinate the King and destroy Parliament in the"
"offers research services for people seeking to document their descent. Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes New Plymouth) was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691 at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Puritan Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims. It was one"
"History of New England The history of New England pertains to the New England region of North America in the United States. New England is the oldest clearly defined region of the United States, and it predates the American Revolution by more than 150 years. The English Pilgrims were Puritans fleeing religious persecution in England who established Plymouth Colony in 1620, the first colony in New England and second in America. A large influx of Puritans populated the greater region during the Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640), largely in the Boston and Salem area. Farming, fishing, and lumbering prospered,"
"provided England's most important and lucrative colonies, but not before several attempts at colonisation failed. An attempt to establish a colony in Guiana in 1604 lasted only two years, and failed in its main objective to find gold deposits. Colonies in St Lucia (1605) and Grenada (1609) also rapidly folded, but settlements were successfully established in St. Kitts (1624), Barbados (1627) and Nevis (1628). The colonies soon adopted the system of sugar plantations successfully used by the Portuguese in Brazil, which depended on slave labour, and—at first—Dutch ships, to sell the slaves and buy the sugar. To ensure that the"
"Newfoundland Colony Newfoundland Colony was the name for an English and later British colony established in 1610 on the island of the same name off the Atlantic coast of Canada, in what is now the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This followed decades of sporadic English settlement on the island, at first seasonal rather than permanent. It was made a Crown colony in 1854 and a Dominion of the British Empire in 1907. The economy collapsed during the Great Depression and Newfoundland relinquished its dominion status, becoming once again a crown colony, governed by appointees from the colonial office"
"""This princess comes from Colchester, where corn and cotton grows. She plays croquet and harpsichord, and sews her own clothes."" People of note that have lived in Colchester include: Colchester Colchester is an historic market town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in the county of Essex. As the oldest recorded Roman town in Britain, Colchester is claimed to be the oldest town in Britain. It was for a time the capital of Roman Britain, and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network. Situated on the River Colne, Colchester is northeast of London and"
"British colonies in North America; they had settlers from England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and German states. The good farm land was much cheaper than in Europe. With the new arrivals came various Protestant denominations, which were protected in the Middle Colonies by written freedom of religion laws. This tolerance was very unusual and distinct from the situation in other British colonies. The Middle Colonies were explored by Henry Hudson on a journey into the Hudson River and Delaware Bay in 1609. The Dutch soon claimed the land. Although the Swedes and the Dutch fought over the land in the"
"appeared in print for the first time in a 1696 compilation of early colonial documents by Joshua Scottow. In the spring of 1631 the leadership agreed to establish the colony's capital at Newtowne (near present-day Harvard Square in Cambridge), and the town was surveyed and laid out. Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, and others built their houses there, but to Dudley's anger, Winthrop decided to build in Boston. This decision caused a rift between Dudley and Winthrop—it was serious enough that in 1632 Dudley resigned his posts and considered returning to England. After the intercession of others, the two reconciled and Dudley"
"originally bound for Virginia. The settlement became permanent in 1612. In 1623, the first British colony in the Caribbean itself was established at St Kitts in the Leeward Islands. In 1628, British colonists began to settle on Barbados which had been uninhabited. Sugar plantations were soon developed and large numbers of African slaves were brought in to work them. Another British colony was established on Nevis. In 1632, more British colonies were established on Montserrat, Antigua and Barbuda. We do not know when or where cricket was first played in the West Indies but it is reasonable to assume that"
"were complete with the establishment of the Province of Georgia in 1732, although the term ""Thirteen Colonies"" became current only in the context of the American Revolution. In London beginning in 1660, all colonies were governed through a state department known as the Southern Department, and a committee of the Privy Council called the Board of Trade and Plantations. In 1768, a specific state department was created for America, but it was disbanded in 1782 when the Home Office took responsibility. The first successful English colony was Jamestown, established May 14, 1607 near Chesapeake Bay. The business venture was financed"
"Overseas exploration and establishment of trading factories sped up, with the first permanent settlements in North America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1607, in Newfoundland in 1610, and at Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts in 1620. One king now ruled England and Scotland; the latter was fully absorbed by the Acts of Union 1707. The tumultuous Caroline era was the reign of King Charles I (1625–1645), followed by his beheading by Oliver Cromwell's regime in 1649 . The Caroline era was dominated by the growing religious, political, and social conflict between the King and his supporters, termed the Royalist party, and the"
"Jamestown, in 1607. That colony fared badly in its first years, and a fleet sent to relieve it in 1609 was broken up by a hurricane, with the Company's flagship, the Sea Venture, lost on the reefs of Bermuda. This began England's claim to, and the permanent settlement of, Bermuda, and the Virginia Company's Third Charter extended the limits of ""Virginia"" far enough out to sea to encompass Bermuda, which was also known as ""Virgineola"". The first intended settlers arrived in 1612, to join the remaining survivors of the Sea Venture. Ever since, the colony (now called an Overseas Territory)"
"History of Colchester Colchester is a historic town located in Essex, England. It served as the first capital of Roman Britain and is oldest recorded town in Britain. The gravel hill upon which Colchester is built was formed in the Middle Pleistocene period, and was shaped into a terrace between the Anglian glaciation and the Ipswichian glaciation by an ancient precursor to the River Colne. From these deposits beneath the town have been found Palaeolithic flint tools, including at least six Acheulian handaxes. Further flint tools made by hunter gatherers living in the Colne Valley during the Mesolithic have been"
"Camulodunum Camulodunum (; ), the Ancient Roman name for what is now Colchester in Essex, was an important town in Roman Britain, and the first capital of the province. It is claimed to be the oldest town in Britain. Originally the site of the Brythonic-Celtic oppidum of Camulodunon (meaning ""stronghold of Camulos""), capital of the Trinovantes and later the Catuvellauni tribes, it was first mentioned by name on coinage minted by the chieftain Tasciovanus sometime between 20 and 10 BC. The Roman town began life as a Roman Legionary base constructed in the AD 40s on the site of the"
"United Kingdom on 26 May 1966. The English made at least two unsuccessful attempts in the 17th century to colonise the lands that would later be known as British Guiana, at which time the Dutch had established two colonies in the area: Essequibo, administered by the Dutch West India Company, and Berbice, administered by the Berbice Association. The Dutch West India Company founded a third colony, Demerara, in the mid-18th century. During the French Revolutionary Wars of the late 18th century, when the Netherlands were occupied by the French, and Great Britain and France were at war, Britain took over"
"History of Torquay The History of Torquay, a town in Torbay, on the south coast of the county of Devon, England, starts some 450,000 years ago with early human artefacts found in Kents Cavern. There is little evidence of any permanent occupation at Torquay until the eleventh century records in the Domesday Book, though it is known that visits were made by Roman soldiers and there was a small Saxon settlement called 'Torre'. In 1196 Torre Abbey was founded here, which by the time of its dissolution in 1539, had become the richest Premonstratensian Monastery in England. The buildings were"
"to other Colonies due to its prime location to the ocean. The climate was prime for these grains which is a direct correlation to how geography relates to trade goods in the Middle Eastern Colonies. The southern British colonies in North America were the Colony of Virginia, Province of North Carolina, Province of South Carolina, and Province of Georgia. The first successful English colony in N. America was Jamestown, established off the Chesapeake Bay in 1607. In 1668 King Charles II granted the Carolina charter to eight Lords Proprietor. Georgia was not established as a colony until 1732 under a"